Posted Monday, June 30, 2003 at 1:58 p.m. CST

In Palm Beach, mixed reactions; Diocese's fourth bishop in five years

By Margot Patterson

Catholics in the diocese of Palm Beach, Fla., reacted with surprise, bafflement and resignation to news that Palm Beach Bishop Sean O'Malley will become the new Archbishop of Boston. The Palm Beach diocese has lost three bishops in five years, and with O'Malley's appointment to Boston, the troubled diocese will soon be looking for a fourth.

The circumstances of O'Malley's departure are far different from those of his predecessors, Bishop J. Keith Symons and Bishop Anthony Connell, both of whom were accused of sex abuse and resigned in disgrace. The comments of Catholics in Palm Beach reflected the difference.

Tom Tracy, a freelance writer and former editor of the diocesan paper The Florida Catholic, said if the news of O'Malley's transfer is true, he has two reactions. One is that Boston is probably getting the bishop who has long been rumored as a possible successor. The second is that once again the diocese of Palm Beach will face a change in leadership, which could be difficult.

"I don't know if that feeling will prevail," Tracy said. "The overriding feeling may be that Boston is the priority for obvious reasons. It needs leadership. You could say that there may be exasperation or wearing or frustration that once again the diocese has to go through transition. This would be the feeling I expect from people who work for the diocese and the parishes, anyone employed by the church here. On the other hand, I think even many of those people will think the needs of the church in Boston will trump any such concern."

Susan Cutaia agreed, saying that she thought most Catholics in the diocese and throughout the country understood the concern about what people in Boston have suffered.

"It's probably an excellent decision by the Vatican," said Cutaia, a Eucharistic minister at St. Joan of Arc Church in Boca Raton who serves on the Council of Catholic Women. "If anyone can restore faith and credibility, to the Boston archdiocese, it's Bishop O'Malley. It's a loss for Palm Beach, but it's a good choice. He's a wonderful man."

Other local Catholics expressed bafflement at the Vatican posting Bishop O'Malley to Palm Beach and then transferring him when he hadn't even been a year in Palm Beach.

"It does kind of make us second-class citizens," said Tom Blackburn, an editorial writer at the Palm Beach Post. "You would think they wouldn't have sent him down here if they knew they were going to send him to Boston.

"It isn't as if someone died in Boston suddenly at the age of 36," Blackburn said. "They knew they had a situation there that they were going to have to change. Either they decided (Boston interim Bishop) Lennon wasn't working out or they weren't thinking ahead."

Theodore Kanamine, a retired military man who worships at Holy Family Parish in Port St. Lucie, was openly disgusted. "I'm very ambivalent about dioceses. Dioceses can wither and go away as far as I'm concerned. Since they can't give us a bishop who is not a predator and who will stay here for a while, we'd get along just fine without one," he said.

O'Malley was transferred to the diocese of Palm Beach in the fall of 2002 after serving as bishop of Fall River, Mass., for 10 years. In Fall River, he had the difficult job of restoring trust and credibility to the diocese after a notorious pedophile, Fr. James Porter, had abused scores of victims. A recent article in The New York Times included O'Malley in a list of bishop-healers in the Catholic Church, naming him as one of at least eight "fixer" bishops.

Since coming to Palm Beach eight months ago, O'Malley has kept a low profile. In mid-June, he wrote an open letter to the Palm Beach diocese in which he apologized to sex abuse victims, informed Catholics of new measures the diocese was taking to strengthen its sex abuse policy, and offered counseling to victims to encourage them to come forward.

Cutaia said it will be interesting to see who is next appointed bishop of Palm Beach diocese.

"It's a shame to have another upheaval, but I'm sure we'll survive it. We've done so before this," she said.

Margot Patteson is NCR opinion editor. Her e-mail address is mpatterson@natcath.org

National Catholic Reporter, June 30, 2003